The Ultima series.

Personally had these when I lived in California at the time they were being made. Was a fun time for anyone living in that state because you could sometimes meet the developers directly and talk about the games creation pretty casually.

I remember going to many weekly(yes weekly) computer conventions and out door sales arenas. It was like walking through a Fallout town except everything was computer related and everyone was really high on the whole experience.

Imagine not having the internet as we have it now and being around thousands of like mind people all eating, drinking and trading computer goods of all kind. Some conventions had to be out in the open they were so big. Such as using airport hangers and the adjoining tarmac, just to have enough room for everyone to be there. It was like a music concert for nerds lol

Good times. Fun games that were brand new and secrets to unlock about them.

My favorite video game memory is the time I completely beat my older brother in a game. Usually, my brother held the high score in whatever game we played. He finished games first, he got the most points, he found the best loot, etc. If there was a multiplayer aspect, he usually trounced me. I think this contributed to my dislike of competitive online games. I only managed to surpass him once.

In The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers game you are given a score of "Fair", "Good", "Excellent" or "Perfect." This is based on the number of enemies you killed matching each of those categories. I mastered the combos and attack patterns for every character and managed to obtain a Perfect score for each level with every character, including the bonus levels. My favorite character to play was Legolas. For whatever reason, everything about this game made sense to me and I felt perfectly in control. My brother tried to master it to the same degree before giving up and moving on to another one.

Being the expert for once was quite a good feeling.

When the first Diablo came out, I stayed up four days and three nights straight playing that game. I kept dying and loosing my loot. Kept having to go back down and get my body and stuff. On the fourth day, my dad came and ask me to be his driver to town and back. That was also the longest drive and day ever.

My favourite memory of all time is when I finally beat the original Contra on the old NES. I was around 6 years old at the time and I can't remember how long it took me to finally do it, but on that day I felt a sense of accomplishment and joy like I've never felt until that day. I remember running into my parents and grandparents to tell them about my achievement. I wanted to tell everybody about it, just because of how happy I was. Until this day, I've never felt like this whenever I beat a game.

My favourite memory is when I was helping my four-year-old nephew play a simple mobile game, Bad Piggies. He was enthusiastically constructing a cart for pigs, powered by propellers, dynamite, and bottle rockets, but could not quite make the cart travel all the way to the end of the course and was getting frustrated.

So I was there advising and helping him make the cart more stable by spacing out the wheels, and we chose together on when to turn on the propellers and rockets, and together we made it to the end of the track! The smile on his face was great to see. But he also wanted to keep on playing - he was becoming a true gamer.

The best part was a short time later, when we were designing another cart for one of the next levels. I was so sure that a well-balanced cart was needed, but we kept failing. So while I was hesitating my nephew went ahead and tried the opposite - a truly rickety cart that seemed like it would barely keep upright on the first hill. I shrugged and said, ok let's try it. And against all odds, the cart made a madcap run all through the track, falling over only barely after reaching the goal! Now it was my turn to smile widely, in happy amazement and respect.

Achievement unlocked: outsmarted by my nephew

As a long time video game fan, I've seen a lot of things you people wouldn't believe. Blimps on fire above nuclear plants... I watched railgun traces glitter in the dark... *cough*But these are the stories for another time.
The thing is - it was really hard to pick just one story that sticked the most. Amount of fun things that happen with you in video games quickly pile up, up to the point when all of these memories start mixing with eachother, leaving you with usual bittersweet aftertaste of something that was fun and happend long time ago, but also making it hard to tell which particular story was the brightest. Yet, after thinking for a really long time, I found the story I could call the most important.

Middle of the ocean, miles away from nearby port (or about 10-15 minutes of real time). Surrounded by hostile high level creatures whom could smack your boat with just a few hits, and even more hostile members of navy guilds, this is a place where, once in a while, certain magic whirpool appears. The portal to place where eldrich abominations are but minor annoyances compared with human's greed.
I've heard that all the precious gems I've seen on gear of rich people in town has came from places like that. Yet I've never been there by myself, because yeah - even if you will manage to sail past all naval monsters, members of famous guilds will drown you alive before you will even get chance to enter the portal. But, like... The more I try, the higher are chances, right?

And so I've decided to go on my little journey, all by my own. I've spent half of my money to buy the cheapest ship available, carefully started to move to rumored coordinates... Only to become kraken's food about the halfway there. Dammit.
Respawned, repaired the ship and tried again. This time, I've managed to sneak past high level mobs without getting their attention. But the very moment the whirpool appeared on horizon, pillars of seaweed rose up from the depth and entangled my ship. Next second I found myself on revival point in town. Looks like they didn't lie about dangers of naval guild members, huh?
My money pool has quickly went down with each repair. Over and over I tried and died miserably.
This was my last attempt. My bank account was broke, but not my will to fight. I've found some random group of people who also wanted to get in there and started slowly sailing after them to dont get much attention. They seemed to be well armed, but unrelated to any naval guilds. I felt like this was my chance. And... well, it was. The moment they arrived to whirpool, the massive naval battle has started. Bombs and magic filled up the screen. In desperate attempt to go for it, I've sailed right into the portal. Someone has noticed me and shot few time with cannon. My ship got on fire, but it was too late for them, as ancient magic surrounded me and I got warped away.

It was just like they said - a dark island of mud and dirt, with forest where no human could survive alone for long enough. And yet some madman has managed to build a dock there. What an awesome lad!
Just when I've stepped on the ground, I've found out that some guys has actually survived the naval battle outside and decided to go all in - their ships appeared on horizon. But were they friends or foes? I've hid in the bush and started to wait, prepared to unleash my magic on them the very moment they arrive.
If not a mere coincidence, I'd do that. But the moment they came close to the dock, someone appeared from the shadows and bashed my head with a back of their sword. Crusader from one of the guilds! How dumb I was, thinking they left the dock undefended! I tried to run away, but he was faster. I thought this will be it. And just when I was about to die, tornado appeared out of nowhere, pulling him inside. Their mage was attacking... no, they all decided to fight him!

And so we stood before eachother. Me, whom never cooperated with anyone before and them, who were just a random party of treasure hunters. I've said to kill me quick, if they are planning to. Then their cleric has casted heal on me.

At the end of this journey, I didn't find a single gem. It would be fun to say “but maybe the friendship was the main treasure"... except it wasn't the case - right after this funny encounter, we parted ways and I died miserably to some mimic. Yeah, who could've guessed?
But what I learned is that I shouldn't try to do everything by myself. Just how many times I died before reaching there? And these guys did it together and succeeded right away. And so, on my next journey, I've formed my own party (and then again, and again, and then I've made a guild with some seasoned party members, and we fought these guys from famous navy guilds many times... but that's the plot for another story).

There feel like a million memories of videogames mingled with the years -- the game that was too hard to finish, the game that demanded I draw maps for completion, the one and only video game my Dad and I would ever play together. Most inhabit the care-free adolescent years of bunk beds, sleepovers, and an Atari 2600, but one -- the one that stays in my mind's eye like an old Polaroid -- sits squarely on the edge of childhood's end.

College was drawing to an end and soon my merry band of dorm-mates would wander off into the "real world," but on this night before Finals -- when any reasonable person would be studying hard to cram those last bits of testable information into their sponge-like brains -- we gathered in a room too small for two people (total capacity: one... with no deep breaths!) and decided as the clock on the Green struck 6pm to start playing Super Star Wars.

By 9pm the room's capacity had grown to four -- an actor, a filmmaker, a mathematician, and a physicist -- and trading the controller between deaths, we had made good progress toward defeating the dreaded eater of Boba Fett, the Saarlac. Among the group there was periodic, half-hearted, mumble-talk of "I need to hit the books" or "I should really get to the library to study for Finals" but no one did... saving the galaxy was too important! And soon (9pm) the library was closed anyway.

By midnight the weekly D&D game in the mod had broken up and our gang had grown by a fifth, a computer technologies major, but even crammed like sardines in every accessible space, we played on defeating the Lava Beast Jawenko. By now the gaming was less all-consuming -- although Luke's quest was still tantamount -- and between turns at the controller we expanded and expounded on hopes, dreams, and fears. As Jawenko went up in flames, he would be far from the last monster we would slay in our lives.

By 3am the dorm was quiet except for the 8-bit beeps, boops, and zoots of a Galaxy far, far away. "The girls" from the adjoining hallway had already complained about the noise, but what did they know? Didn't they realize how important perfecting Luke's "double jump" or lightsaber skills would be to our future survival? But even with the importance understood, our band had started to slowly succumb to the lullaby of dreamland. Still, no matter the heaviness of the lids, no one was allowed to sleep through a turn. It was our duty to march on to victory and defeat the Empire!

By 6am the sun was rising and we could hear the showers spring to life down the hall. The actor and the physicist had given up the galaxy a couple of hours back and did the zombie shuffle off to their rooms. The mathematician and the computer technologies major lay out across the bed snoring, dead to the world -- victims of some early Death Star enemies -- and I had come to an impasse. My blaster just wasn't good enough on that night and I decided saving the galaxy could wait another day. Red-eyed and ragged, I turned off the SNES, put things away as best I could, and as I turned to leave, it struck me that this ridiculous night of playing Super Star Wars until the sun rose would never happen again... that there would never be another night like this, together, saving the galaxy.

These many years past, the actor and the mathematician have passed away (heartbreakingly in the past year)... and I have sadly lost touch due to distance and time with the physicist and computer science major. Still, the first game I purchased on the PS4 was Super Star Wars, and I'll "dust it off" and play a few moments from time-to-time to remember that night... and my friends as they were -- young and vital and full of hopes and dreams... willing to disregard reality once-in-awhile to save the galaxy.

Well there was that time I laid and egg but that post disappear so there was Dracula 3 where I played a priest trapsing around Romania during the first world war helping gypsies and dead people and doing a bit of grave robbing too while trying to pick up the local health worker. It also had a full latin bible in the inventory with passages like these.

1 Apocalypsis Jesu Christi, quam dedit illi Deus palam facere servis suis, quæ oportet fieri cito: et significavit, mittens per angelum suum servo suo Joanni,

2 qui testimonium perhibuit verbo Dei, et testimonium Jesu Christi, quæcumque vidit.

3 Beatus qui legit, et audit verba prophetiæ hujus, et servat ea, quæ in ea scripta sunt: tempus enim prope est.

4 Joannes septem ecclesiis, quæ sunt in Asia. Gratia vobis, et pax ab eo, qui est, et qui erat, et qui venturus est: et a septem spiritibus qui in conspectu throni ejus sunt:

5 et a Jesu Christo, qui est testis fidelis, primogenitus mortuorum, et princeps regum terræ, qui dilexit nos, et lavit nos a peccatis nostris in sanguine suo,

6 et fecit nos regnum, et sacerdotes Deo et Patri suo: ipsi gloria et imperium in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

7 Ecce venit cum nubibus, et videbit eum omnis oculus, et qui eum pupugerunt. Et plangent se super eum omnes tribus terræ. Etiam: amen.

8 Ego sum alpha et omega, principium et finis, dicit Dominus Deus: qui est, et qui erat, et qui venturus est, omnipotens.

9 Ego Joannes frater vester, et particeps in tribulatione, et regno, et patientia in Christo Jesu: fui in insula, quæ appellatur Patmos, propter verbum Dei, et testimonium Jesu:

10 fui in spiritu in dominica die, et audivi post me vocem magnam tamquam tubæ,

11 dicentis: Quod vides, scribe in libro: et mitte septem ecclesiis, quæ sunt in Asia, Epheso, et Smyrnæ, et Pergamo, et Thyatiræ, et Sardis, et Philadelphiæ, et Laodiciæ.

12 Et conversus sum ut viderem vocem, quæ loquebatur mecum: et conversus vidi septem candelabra aurea:

13 et in medio septem candelabrorum aureorum, similem Filio hominis vestitum podere, et præcinctum ad mamillas zona aurea:

14 caput autem ejus, et capilli erant candidi tamquam lana alba, et tamquam nix, et oculi ejus tamquam flamma ignis:

15 et pedes ejus similes auricalco, sicut in camino ardenti, et vox illius tamquam vox aquarum multarum:

16 et habebat in dextera sua stellas septem: et de ore ejus gladius utraque parte acutus exibat: et facies ejus sicut sol lucet in virtute sua.

17 Et cum vidissem eum, cecidi ad pedes ejus tamquam mortuus. Et posuit dexteram suam super me, dicens: Noli timere: ego sum primus, et novissimus,

18 et vivus, et fui mortuus, et ecce sum vivens in sæcula sæculorum: et habeo claves mortis, et inferni.

19 Scribe ergo quæ vidisti, et quæ sunt, et quæ oportet fieri post hæc.

20 Sacramentum septem stellarum, quas vidisti in dextera mea, et septem candelabra aurea: septem stellæ, angeli sunt septem ecclesiarum: et candelabra septem, septem ecclesiæ sunt. I'm not sure what it means but I do like the way it looks and was a nice touch when tracking down the undead and theiss passage too.

1 Angelo Ephesi ecclesiæ scribe: Hæc dicit, qui tenet septem stellas in dextera sua, qui ambulat in medio septem candelabrorum aureorum:

2 Scio opera tua, et laborem, et patientiam tuam, et quia non potes sustinere malos: et tentasti eos, qui se dicunt apostolos esse, et non sunt: et invenisti eos mendaces:

3 et patientiam habes, et sustinuisti propter nomen meum, et non defecisti.

4 Sed habeo adversum te, quod caritatem tuam primam reliquisti.

5 Memor esto itaque unde excideris: et age pœnitentiam, et prima opera fac: sin autem, venio tibi, et movebo candelabrum tuum de loco suo, nisi pœnitentiam egeris.

6 Sed hoc habes, quia odisti facta Nicolaitarum, quæ et ego odi.

7 Qui habet aurem, audiat quid Spiritus dicat ecclesiis: Vincenti dabo edere de ligno vitæ, quod est in paradiso Dei mei.

8 Et angelo Smyrnæ ecclesiæ scribe: Hæc dicit primus, et novissimus, qui fuit mortuus, et vivit:

9 Scio tribulationem tuam, et paupertatem tuam, sed dives es: et blasphemaris ab his, qui se dicunt Judæos esse, et non sunt, sed sunt synagoga Satanæ.

10 Nihil horum timeas quæ passurus es. Ecce missurus est diabolus aliquos ex vobis in carcerem ut tentemini: et habebitis tribulationem diebus decem. Esto fidelis usque ad mortem, et dabo tibi coronam vitæ.

11 Qui habet aurem, audiat quid Spiritus dicat ecclesiis: Qui vicerit, non lædetur a morte secunda.

12 Et angelo Pergami ecclesiæ scribe: Hæc dicit qui habet rhomphæam utraque parte acutam:

13 Scio ubi habitas, ubi sedes est Satanæ: et tenes nomen meum, et non negasti fidem meam. Et in diebus illis Antipas testis meus fidelis, qui occisus est apud vos ubi Satanas habitat.

14 Sed habeo aversus te pauca: quia habes illic tenentes doctrinam Balaam, qui docebat Balac mittere scandalum coram filiis Isræl, edere, et fornicari:

15 ita habes et tu tenentes doctrinam Nicolaitarum.

16 Similiter pœnitentiam age: si quominus veniam tibi cito, et pugnabo cum illis in gladio oris mei.

17 Qui habet aurem, audiat quid Spiritus dicat ecclesiis: Vincenti dabo manna absconditum, et dabo illi calculum candidum: et in calculo nomen novum scriptum, quod nemo scit, nisi qui accipit.

18 Et angelo Thyatiræ ecclesiæ scribe: Hæc dicit Filius Dei, qui habet oculos tamquam flammam ignis, et pedes ejus similes auricalco:

19 Novi opera tua, et fidem, et caritatem tuam, et ministerium, et patientiam tuam, et opera tua novissima plura prioribus.

20 Sed habeo adversus te pauca: quia permittis mulierem Jezabel, quæ se dicit propheten, docere, et seducere servos meos, fornicari, et manducare de idolothytis.

21 Et dedi illi tempus ut pœnitentiam ageret: et non vult pœnitere a fornicatione sua.

22 Ecce mittam eam in lectum: et qui mœchantur cum ea, in tribulatione maxima erunt, nisi pœnitentiam ab operibus suis egerint.

23 Et filios ejus interficiam in morte, et scient omnes ecclesiæ, quia ego sum scrutans renes, et corda: et dabo unicuique vestrum secundum opera sua. Vobis autem dico,

24 et ceteris qui Thyatiræ estis: quicumque non habent doctrinam hanc, et qui non cognoverunt altitudines Satanæ, quemadmodum dicunt, non mittam super vos aliud pondus:

25 tamen id quod habetis, tenete donec veniam.

26 Et qui vicerit, et custodierit usque in finem opera mea, dabo illi potestatem super gentes,

27 et reget eas in virga ferrea, et tamquam vas figuli confringentur,

28 sicut et ego accepi a Patre meo: et dabo illi stellam matutinam.

29 Qui habet aurem, audiat quid Spiritus dicat ecclesiis.

I think one of my best memories was when I played the game cube with one of my best friends during my childhood.
I learned the valuable lesson of good video gaming sportsmanship and... that some can be really competitive, like me when I play street fighter. Anyways, back to the memory.

We laughed so much. Most of it was from spinning around with mario's cape and spamming the water gun!
It was soooo rewarding! We found so many secret eggs and locations thanks to our endless curiosity!

Super mario, yoshi and numerous times of splashing everywhere with water to see what happens.
Best part is we did it without a walkthrough or easter egg guide. (Can't believe it myself thinking back)
I think that childhood experience shaped how I would played open world games.
No more water gun from the man in the red hat anymore but instead, I look under staircases for med-kits and herbs (Resident Evil fans can relate).

I guess that is part of growing up lol
In retrospect, there were many happy moments to be cherished and to this day I still find myself smiling thinking back to the days I sat around the console with my friends.

In spite of that, I do wish I had known the ultimate insight at that time... It would changed everything and saved many of my gaming and co-op friendships... and it is... "Curiosity killed the cat"

The start of Syberia. A funeral procession marching in the rain along the town's main street led by an automaton, who is beating a on a toy drum and all followers have umbrellas.

Best scene I had seen in a PC game.

If you dont hear from them, you did not win. But Give Smol a few days. 1 person can only read so much while busy doing other shtuffies =D

Do try to find out what happened to the disappeared contest entries dim bulb.

Congrats to the winners! Enjoy your games, folks!